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April 30, 2018

BrahMos missile will breach mach 7 barrier in next decade: Top official

Brahmos, the fastest cruise missile in the world co-developed by India
and Russia, will be breaching the mach 7 barrier to become a
'hypersonic' system in the next decade, a top official said.

"We
will require seven to ten years from now to become a hypersonic missile
system," Sudhir Mishra, the chief executive and managing director of
the joint venture company Brahmos Aerospace, told here over the weekend.

He said the missile, which currently travels at mach 2.8 or 2.8
times the speed of sound, will touch mach 3.5 soon and mach 5 in three
years.

The current engine will have to be "tinkered" to achieve
mach 5 and will have to be replaced to achieve hypersonic speed, he
said.

The intent is to come out with a missile that will be able to deliver to the next-generation warfare, Mishra said.

He
said Indian institutions including the DRDO, IITs and Indian Institute
of Science are working on technologies which will help it achieve the
goals and added that Russian institutes are also doing similar work.

He
said the company, which has a majority 55 per cent holding by the
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the remaining
with Russia, has an order book of over Rs 30,000 crore at present.

Over
the years, the basic missile system has been modified in a such a way
that it can be fitted on various platforms, including ships, submarines,
the Sukhoi-30 aircraft as well as land, for launch, he said.

Sharma claimed at present the missile system is 5-7 years ahead of the nearest competition from a development perspective.

"Today, this is the fastest cruise missile in the world. Nobody including the US has such a missile system," he said.

Mishra
said the engine, propulsion technology and seeker are developed by the
Russians, while Indians do control systems, guidance, software,
airframes and fire control systems.

Over 70 per cent of the components are manufactured using private industry's help, he said.

Mishra,
however, also conceded that the missiles will be relevant for only
25-30 years and warfare will shift to newer tools like "high power
lasers and high power microwave weapons" which will not require "kinetic
weapon" systems.